


Six AM.

by 200_to_200



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 17:56:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6530158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/200_to_200/pseuds/200_to_200
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The alarm clock started to blare beside the bed at six am. “Damn it” Lisa thought, “It’s my day off”. Groggily she rolled over and slapped towards the bed side table until she hit the button on top. The room was still dark with the grey look of a severely overcast day. “Oh good a rainy day.” she thought. She loved to have an excuse to stay inside instead of running around and getting things done. She had a new book she had been dying to get her nose into, and had already gone grocery shopping the evening before. It was warm beneath the covers, but the air in the room was bitter cold. Strange since it was early summer and the days were warming up earlier and earlier. She attributed it to the storm brewing outside and burrowed herself deeper under the covers, wishing she hadn’t switched over to her summer blanket just a few days before. As she closed her eyes to go back to sleep she realized it wasn’t going to happen. Flipping over and glaring at her alarm clock she whispered to it “I hate you.” and stuck out her tongue. Childish maybe but what did she care?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The alarm clock started to blare beside the bed at six am. “Damn it” Lisa thought, “It’s my day off”. Groggily she rolled over and slapped towards the bed side table until she hit the button on top. The room was still dark with the grey look of a severely overcast day. “Oh good a rainy day.” she thought. She loved to have an excuse to stay inside instead of running around and getting things done. She had a new book she had been dying to get her nose into, and had already gone grocery shopping the evening before. It was warm beneath the covers, but the air in the room was bitter cold. Strange since it was early summer and the days were warming up earlier and earlier. She attributed it to the storm brewing outside and burrowed herself deeper under the covers, wishing she hadn’t switched over to her summer blanket just a few days before. As she closed her eyes to go back to sleep she realized it wasn’t going to happen. Flipping over and glaring at her alarm clock she whispered to it “I hate you.” and stuck out her tongue. Childish maybe, but what did she care?

The door to the room slowly creaked open as her cat lazily walked in. “Good morning Tony” she cooed, and patted the bed for him to jump up. Instead, he flopped over feet from the bed and stared up at her. “C'mon, come love Me.” she whined, but it just seemed to strengthen his resolve as he lowered his head to the floor and went to sleep. “Show off.” she muttered and sat up in bed. It felt so unfair that she was up this early on a day she should be snoozing until at least ten. As she got out of bed and put her feet on the cold hardwood she shivered. It was normally cold on her feet but this morning it was freezing. She wondered again about how abnormally dark it was in the room. After putting on her winter house coat from her wardrobe she went to start up her coffee pot. As the machine began its whirring and bubbling sounds she headed towards the living room. 

Lisa had been living in this apartment for a while. She liked being up on the top floor of the four story building. It was usually warm from the places below and beside her, and quiet with nobody stomping around above her. The place she lived in three years ago was terrible for that. She loved the shiny new appliances, the hardwood floors, and amazing view her new place had to offer. In the corner of her living room she had a beautiful gas fireplace, and as wrong as it felt to use it in June she went ahead and turned it on high. “There we go.” she thought, “It shouldn’t take long to warm up in here.” 

As she headed towards the balcony to see just how bad it was going to be today she tripped over a fluffy grey blur. “TONY! WHY?!” she snapped as she caught herself. His little grey face with its big yellow eyes looked up at her and replied with a long drawn out meow. “Hungry, yeah, you always are. C'mon then.” She opened his tin of wet food, spoiled little bugger he was, and after a pat on his head she headed back to look outside. As she drew back the curtains she wasn’t prepared for what was out there. 

Dark grey skies as far as she could see. The normally beautiful clear summer sun shining down on her view of the mountains that surrounded her city were nowhere to be seen. In fact, she could just barely make out the tall office buildings that were only a few blocks away. It looked like the dreary, heavy grey of a winter storm. As she reached towards the handle of the sliding glass door she noticed frost building up around the edges of the glass. “What on earth?” she wondered as she pulled the door open. 

She was met with a blast of icy air and quickly shut it again. “Tony, what month is it?” she called back in her cats direction, who ignored her and continued to munch away at his tuna delight. “Yeah, June, I could have sworn too.” She knew she wasn’t a crazy person. At least she was pretty sure. She supposed she could be, would she really know if she was? She shook this silly thought aside and retreated to the kitchen to grab her largest mug from the cupboard. Filling it with her first coffee of the morning, she decided to top it off with some Baileys, because it was looking like that kind of a day.

In the winter it took her fireplace about ten minutes to heat the main room, it had felt like that long and there was still no sign of it warming up in there. She figured since she wasn’t even sure what month it was moments ago, she could be misinterpreting the time as well. She grabbed a warm blanket from her storage ottoman in the center of the room and sat with her coffee on the couch. She reached over and grabbed the remote to turn on her TV. The news must be covering this sudden cold snap she guessed. As she flipped through the channels looking for a news station she shivered. It had to have been ten minutes by now. 

She looked towards the clock on her wall and saw it read six am. That couldn’t be right, she woke up at six. The coffee was brewed and the cat was fed, time had to have passed at least a little. “I just changed your batteries last month” she mumbled and resolved never to buy them at the dollar tree again. She turned back to her channel flipping and noticed that the screen was frozen. As she changed the channel every new picture that popped up was stuck on their current frame. She threw her head back on the couch and wondered why her day was starting this way. “OK, no TV for me I guess. Looks like it’s just you and me today Mr. King” she said aloud as she picked up her new book. She smiled. She didn’t mind a day reading curled up in her blanket. She grabbed her coffee and took a sip, being careful not to burn herself. As it turned out there was no risk of that as the coffee was already ice cold. Alarmed, she put the cup down and looked around the room. 

This was not good. It was colder today than the worst day they had had all winter. She got up from the couch to put on some warmer clothes and her winter slippers, glad she hadn’t quite finished putting everything away for the year. As she dressed quickly in her room she noticed the alarm clock on her bedside table was still flashing 06:00. “We must have had a power out” she assumed as she put on her slippers. That would explain the clock, and the TV maybe. It didn’t solve the clock in the main room, but she had already decided cheap batteries were at fault there. She went back to the balcony and looked out again. It had been strangely quiet since she got up. At six am that wasn’t abnormal, but people should be starting up their cars and heading to work or school at least. She pulled open the sliding door and stepped outside. 

She saw her breath in the air as she walked towards the railing that bordered her deck. Looking out she saw a car that had been pulling out of its spot stopped slanted in the road, and another that would have been driving out of the complex stopped in front of the other cars parked there. She noticed Mrs. Wilson’s car was one that was blocked in and thought about the poor soul who was going to have to face her wrath. Mrs. Wilson was a fiery old woman and she giggled to herself thinking that her rage could be the thing that warms up the city this morning. She grabbed the railing and leaned over to look further down the way. She noticed a man on the stairs going down from the town houses that had been built up the road. He wasn’t moving. She started feeling nervous. 

The scene outside was completely still. As she turned to go back inside she found her hands were frozen to the railing. She tried to step back but only one foot could move, the other was frozen to the floor of the balcony. Panicked, she turned her head and saw Tony stepping his little paws out onto the deck and yelled “Tony, no, inside!” but the cat just looked at her and continued on his way out. He started to meow but his mouth froze in place and the sound cut off half way. His fur stood rigid and he stopped moving entirely. Frozen in place. The puffs of white from his breathing stopped. When she tried to scream the breath she pulled in burned her throat and lungs. Tears had welled up in her eyes, but they froze immediately before they could fall. Her eyes stuck open covered in ice that was like glass. She tried to move but she couldn’t. She was frozen in place like the rest of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

Lisa shot awake, and noticed the air conditioner blowing down on her full blast from the wall. She had fallen asleep on the coach and hadn’t grabbed a blanket. She rolled over and her book fell to the floor. She grabbed her face and started to laugh as Tony jumped up on her to ask for his breakfast. “Silly kitty.” She sighed as she scratched behind Tony’s ears. The cat flopped over on her chest and purred loudly. As Lisa sat up she shook her head, trying to refocus herself after such a vivid and strange dream. She stood up and turned off the air conditioner. “That’s better.” She thought as she turned towards the window and saw it was a perfectly normal summer day outside. 

She opened the curtains as wide as they could go to let the sun shine in to the room. The warm sun on her face helped send the last remaining pieces of her dream to the back of her mind. Tony meowed loudly and walked towards his food dish. For what felt like the second time that morning she opened him a can of tuna delight and pet his head while he dug in. As she started the coffee maker she could hear a faint beeping from her bedroom. “Well, I guess it wasn’t all made up after all” she thought “I really didn’t set the alarm for Saturday” She walked to her room and turned off the alarm. The clock reading nine thirty now instead of the unsettling six from her dream. She looked at her bed, still perfectly made and felt a tinge of regret for falling asleep on the couch. It wasn’t meant to be slept on and she could feel it in her back this morning.

Lisa felt the need to go outside, breathe in the summer air. She quickly got herself ready, throwing her long blonde hair into a sloppy pony tail. A quick swipe of mascara and some lipstick was all she needed to feel done up today. She started to put on her track pants and a basic tee, but quickly changed her mind and put on jeans and a tight fitting top instead. A new tenant had moved into the building a few weeks ago and she was hoping he might notice her. “I’m not going to get his attention if I dress like a shlub am I Tony?” she asked the cat who had just entered the room to see what she was doing. After a minute or so of staring he jumped up on the bed and stretched out long with his furry white underbelly showing. He was snoozing away in seconds. “Show off.” she laughed. 

She left her room and entered the kitchen to pour herself a coffee in a to-go mug. Lisa looked around for a moment thinking that she really did love this place. She headed towards the door, contemplated heels but settled on some cute flats instead. “He’s cute, but my feet don’t have to suffer for it” she thought as she grabbed her keys from the hook and left her apartment. As she entered the elevator she wondered if she was going to the main floor or the parking garage. She decided to push “G” for the ground floor. She didn’t really have anywhere to be. There was no sense driving around aimlessly when she could walk around aimlessly just as easily. As the doors opened she took a breath and hoped Mr. Sexy (as she had come to call him to her friends) would be checking his mail. The doors opened on an empty lobby, and she breathed out a sigh. “Can’t win them all” she whispered and smiled to herself. 

As she exited the building she decided her walk would take her towards the boardwalk this morning. It was still cool in the shade as summer hadn’t hit them full blast quite yet. Come July she would be retiring the jeans for skirts and shorts to keep herself from sweating to death. The thought brought on a chill as she remembered that just the opposite had happened in her mind earlier that morning. As she walked along the sidewalk beside the parking stalls outside the building she saw Mrs. Wilson ahead of her. “Good Morning Mrs. Wilson” she called and waved. The old lady turned to her with the usual scowl that Lisa had come to know as just her face and said “For who? Some jack ass has blocked me in! No respect.” Lisa turned to see a burgundy Chevy cavalier parked in front of Mrs. Wilson’s car blocking it and her neighbors from possibly leaving the lot. Had the car been burgundy in her dream? She couldn’t remember. “Oh dear.” Lisa replied “have you called a truck to come move it?” “Of course I called a tow truck.” the old woman groaned, as though she had just heard he dumbest question in her life. ‘Well good luck to you” Lisa said, letting Mrs. Wilson’s bad mood roll right off her shoulders. From above them someone called down “Hey Betty, you’re gonna be late for cribbage” and laughed. It must have been one of the teenagers who lived in the building Lisa guessed, based on the not quite settled deepness of the voice. “That’s Mrs. Wilson to you!” She yelled up towards the window. “No respect” she repeated as she shook her head.

Lisa continued on her way, smiling to herself about the kid and his rude comment. He should be more respectful she thought, but the old cow didn’t dish out a lot of respect herself. Another thing Lisa loved about the apartment she was currently living in was its proximity to the beach. Just 3 blocks away was the cities lake, clear and clean. The beaches bordering it were well taken care of by the city and were a hot spot for everyone. Families and couples and singles alike spent most of their summers down by the water. With restaurants and shopping and boat docks nearby it really was the place to be in the summer. As she got closer to the beach Lisa began to regret her choice in jeans. “Maybe shorts are closer than I thought.” she told herself as she began to sweat. The sun was rising towards its highest spot in the sky and was going to be staying there for a while. She decided she would go and pick herself up a new summer dress for the season, checking out a few of the local shops down by the beach. She settled on little white number that hung loosely around her. She took down her hair and picked up a big over sized hat and some shades too. She had just finished a very successful week at the restaurant she was working at, a busy little place where all the cities wealthy retirees would go. She had made herself a small fortune in tips that easily paid for the new get up. She had another modeling gig booked for the next day and that would be paying her rent for the next three months. She was as happy as she could be. Suited up in her new outfit she stopped at a small café by the water.

Sitting on the patio Lisa began to pick at the croissant she had purchased and sipped on an iced tea, it was too hot for coffee now. She pulled out her journal and decided to write about her dream from the night before. It still frightened her a little but she always felt better when she wrote things like that down. That way she could reflect on it and if it had a deeper meaning later on if she decided she wanted to. After an hour of writing and people watching she decided it was getting too hot to be out anymore. She got up from her spot and started to head towards home. 

People were watching her too, but Lisa was used to it. She had been a tall child and grew into a tall adult. She hated it when she was younger, being called big bird, or stork, or all sorts of mean names kids could come up with. She grew into her nose, and her legs quit looking like stilts she was precariously balancing on by the time she reached high school. The other kids kept looking at her but they had a whole new reason for it. School was a few years behind her now and she had taken to modeling naturally. Being looked at had been a life for her and it was no different that now it was a lens instead of just gawking people. As she headed towards home Lisa had hoped Mr. Sexy would be in the lobby. She fantasized about walking in in her flattering dress, taking off her sunglasses and hat and shaking out her hair while he watched her. In her mind’s eye it all happened in slow motion and there was a spotlight coming down from somewhere. He would walk over to her tell her he couldn’t bare to spend another moment not knowing her name. She would laugh and tell him it was Lisa. He would ask her to dinner and take her to the most beautiful restaurant in the city and then …

“Hey watch it!” a kid on a skateboard called at her while he rode by close enough to make her hair blow back with him. “You watch it.” she muttered and returned to reality.   
She was coming up to her building already. When she opened the doors the lobby was still empty. No Mr. Sexy today. She sighed as her bubble burst and she took the elevator up to her floor. As she got closer to her door Lisa heard another door opening up the hall and scrambled for her keys. She dropped them on the floor, “Shit.” she cursed, and ducked to grab them. A big hearty “Howdy neighbor” came from up the hall. She grimaced with her head down. After a deep breath she managed a smile and looked up to see George. A short and stout little man who lived 4 doors up and across the hall. His face made her feel sick and she couldn’t quite place why. He always seemed to look like he just finished carelessly eating a bucket of fried chicken. His dark thinning hair was always full of dandruff that fell on the shoulders of his suits. He worked for a law firm in town that defended the lowest of the low. From the few times he managed to get Lisa cornered she knew he was very good at making sure the scum of the earth walked free and clear. “Puts food on the table” he would laugh and smile with his plump, gross, shiny mouth. “Hi George.” she replied and stood up. Lisa being so tall and George being so short put his eye level right at her chest. Another thing she couldn’t stand about him was that he took full advantage of that fact. “Didja hear about Mrs. Wilson calling that tow truck today? Ooooh boy what an ordeal. Some of the people who live here hey!” he chuckled. “She was fuming mad, heard all about it just earlier. If you aren’t busy some of us from the building are getting together for drinks in a bit.” 

“Ew, ew, ew ,ew.” She thought. “Oh no not tonight George. I have a date and I really need to start getting ready.” She lied. George was recently divorced and “playing the field” and he put it. Based on the girls she had seen him come home with Lisa was pretty sure he was actually “paying the field”. “Oh well, another time then.” George replied while staring directly at her breasts. Lisa put her key in the door and opened it. “Goodbye George” she said and quickly closed it before he could reply. That guy made her skin crawl. She was happy to be in the apartment and felt like she needed a shower immediately. 

Tony walked up to her and rubbed himself against her leg. “Hey there big guy” she said while she scooped down to pick him up in her arms. She flipped the cat over like a baby and he started to purr. “You aren’t all gross and creepy are you? No you are such a pretty kitty. Are you hungry? I bet you are.” she said in the baby voice she reserved for Tony. Once the cat was fed Lisa went to hit the shower. A modeling job in the morning meant a thorough shower, some skin and hair treatments, and an early night. She was tired already since her sleep last night was uncomfortable and restless. She spent an easy hour in the shower, an indulgence her parents would hate. They were always telling her to save her brothers and them some hot water, which she almost never did. She felt since she woke up first she had full dibs on the water. Thinking back on how crazy it drove them made her smile and she thought she would call her mom tomorrow morning and check in. 

Lisa stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Grabbing a big fluffy robe from the hook on her bathroom door, she wrapped herself up and threw her hair in a towel on top of her head. After finishing her regime of lotions and potions to prepare for her job in the morning, she dressed herself in some silky pink pajamas. As Lisa entered the main room of her apartment she looked at the clock on the wall. It was still running, so she made a mental note to take the dollar tree off of her boycott list. The clock only read five pm. She still had a few hours to kill before she would be able to fall asleep. Tony waddled up to her and brushed against Lisa’s legs. “Hello little man” she purred back to him. “It’s dinner time isn’t it?” At that Tony walked with purpose towards his dish, waggling his fluffy butt as he did so. “You are getting to be a bit of a chub Tony. I am going to have to put you on a diet.” She told the cat, knowing full well she wouldn’t. She liked how chubby Tony was. His short little snout and big eyes combined with his adorable fluffy belly made her happy. Tony dug in to his fancy chicken dinner. Lisa walked into her kitchen and put some soup on the stove for herself. She glanced towards some of the specialty buns she had on the counter and longed to have one. Lisa resolved that after she finished the job tomorrow she would have herself a proper pig out. 

While Lisa stood stirring her soup on the stove she heard a knock at the apartments door. She walked over and looked through the peep hole. “Oh, shut up.” She muttered angrily to herself. Through the glass she was looking right at Mr. Sexy. “Ummm. One second!” she called to the door as she ran to grab a robe and tied her hair back into a low pony tail. As she started to scurry back to the door she stopped and ran into the bathroom instead. She quickly grabbed some lip gloss from the counter and spread it on her lips. Slapping at her cheeks a couple times to give her some colour. She frowned at her reflection. “Honestly Mr. Sexy. Now? Ugh. Good enough!” and she quickly headed towards the door. 

Lisa took a deep breath and opened the door. She gave the man her best smile and tried not blush. “Hi!” she said, a little too enthusiastically. “Um. Hello.” Mr. Sexy responded. “I’m sorry, did I come at a bad time?” he asked looking her over in her pjs and robe. “Oh, no, no, not at all.” She followed his eyes and felt she needed to explain why she was in her pajamas at five thirty in the evening. “I have a big job tomorrow. Early night for me!” Lisa told her guest, laughing a little more than she really should have. When he didn’t respond she continued, “See I’m a model. Well part time. I also work at The Eatery. You know it? It’s not far from here and is really good. I haven’t seen you there before you should really check me out. It out. Us. The restaurant.” Lisa felt a blush creeping up her neck. “Oh my god shut up, shut up, shut up” she cried internally. 

“I haven’t yet no. Thank you for the recommendation” Mr. Sexy responded awkwardly, eyes shifting down to the stack of flyers in his hands. Lisa’s eyes roamed all over him while his gaze was down. He was tall. About 6’2” she would guess. That was good, she thought to herself, even in heels he would be taller than her. He was probably in his late 20’s. His hair was a thick dark brown. He clearly worked at it to create that “I couldn’t care less” messy look. As his eyes shifted back up to her they made eye contact. His eyes were large and sky blue. Perfectly set on his face under sculpted dark brows and rimmed with long dark lashes. His jaw line could cut her. She imagined reaching out and touching his face. “So yeah. Would you like one? It would help us out if everyone came together.” Lisa caught the last portion of whatever Mr. Sexy had been saying. Embarrassed, all she could muster was a weak “I’m sorry. What was that?” Lisa tried not to blush but could feel herself failing miserably. 

Mr. Sexy laughed. “I work for the nature conservatory” he repeated himself. “We have been monitoring the flight patterns of birds and they have been way off this year with the sudden cold snaps happening around the country.” 

“Oh. Birds yes. Of course. I love birds.” Lisa managed to say, completely unsure why she said it. She really couldn’t care less about them. As if on cue, Tony walked up to the door with his very realistic toy bird in his mouth. Feathers ripped off and the beak falling apart. Portions of stuffing coming out under the wings. Mr. Sexy pointed to Tony, “He likes them too I see.”   
“Ha… ha …. Yeah.” Lisa responded, glaring at Tony. The cat stood up and waggled his fluffy butt out of the room. “So, yeah” Sexy continued, “We would like to protect the birds coming into the city and hopefully redirect them to the surrounding wooded areas. The city is trying to get traps and pest control to eliminate them. We are hoping with enough support we can help the wildlife until this weird weather pattern corrects itself. So, um, here.” He held one of his flyers out to Lisa. “It would be great to see you there.” 

“I will be!” Lisa committed. “Gotta save those little feathery friends!” she continued. She reached up to tuck her loose hair behind her ear and play with her pony tail before grabbing the flyer. Tugging at the hair to tighten it her elastic band snapped, causing her hair to fall around her face. “oh god, why, why, whyyy” she screamed on the inside. Mr. Sexy smiled at her. “Great! Thank you for your support.” Lisa reached out with the hand not holding the broken elastic in it to take the flyer. “I hope you have another one of those.” He commented looking at the snapped elastic. “Hundreds” she muttered. Mr. Sexy turned to leave with a nod. As Lisa went to close the door she changed her mind. Swinging it open and stepping out into the hallway she called after him, “I’m Lisa by the way”. She grabbed at the hair that swung out in front of her face in her hurry, pulling it off of where it stuck to the gloss on her lips. He stopped and turned back to her. “Ryan.” He said with a smile. Lisa waved awkwardly and stepped back inside and closed the door. 

Lisa leaned back against the door and began bonking the back of her head against it. Her eyes were closed. She opened them only when she heard a meow from beneath her feet. “Shut up Tony” she scowled, but bent down to pet him anyways. She sniffed the air and smelt burning and heard sizzling from the stove. Her soup was boiling over. She dropped the flyer in her hand and ran to remove the pot from the element. The cat looked up at his frenzied owner and meowed again. Lisa laughed. “I said shut up.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a short fiction story I have started making into a longer one. If you like it let me know. Critiques are welcome, but be nice! I am a little nervous to post anything.


End file.
